Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

As the Spartans look to continue their rise on the national scene and stay in first place in the Big Ten tonight at Nebraska, they do so knowing Denzel Valentine will be a big part of that effort. And that will be true whenever Travis Trice returns, even if it means a return to mostly the wing instead of the point for Valentine.

He is starting to figure out how to apply his rare vision and playmaking ability with the proper caution required in the college game. For a while there, he may have gotten too cautious – and cautious can easily turn into tentative and ineffective on a basketball court.

“I’m just playing,” Valentine said. “When I come prepared, there’s nothing to be worried about because you’ve seen everything. I’m just staying in the gym, watching extra film, and everything else is gonna take care of itself.”

Draymond Green was at MSU’s practice Thursday, making some time for the Spartans on his All-Star break. And that brings up an interesting comparison with Valentine.

Like Green, Valentine is not an exceptional athlete. Like Green, he’s a versatile player with an exceptional sense for the game. Like Green, he seems to have natural vocal abilities that can help him lead this team some day.

“He doesn’t have all the talent in the world,” Valentine said of Green. “He’s not super athletic, super fast, super quick. But he just understands the game. Kind of like me. Gets the job done. It just shows me you don’t have to be super athletic, super gifted to be a good player. Watching him last year, I learned a lot from him.”

He’s also learned a lot from his father, Lansing Sexton coach and former MSU forward Carlton Valentine. This may be surprising, but before MSU coaches called Carlton in for the conference before MSU’s win over Illinois – in which Denzel had a career-high 14 points – Carlton said he was withholding much comment to his son on his play this season.

“I try to stay out of it and stay in my lane,” Carlton said, “but he was struggling.”

The fact that his father essentially echoed what MSU coaches had been telling him seemed to have an impact on Denzel. It’s not just that Carlton is his father, he also coached him to two state titles at Sexton. And Denzel knows his father has played and succeeded at this level.

“That’s a lot of layers of trust,” Carlton said. “And what I told him was, ‘Trust your coaching. You’ve got great coaching, man, and you’ve got to trust them.’”

And speaking of that, much was made of a late-game interaction in MSU’s win at Purdue a week ago, during which MSU associate head coach Dwayne Stephens grabbed Valentine by the back of the neck and barked at him. Tom Izzo was asked about it on his radio show and Carlton Valentine said he got several calls and texts about it.

His answer can be summed up best in one word: Huh?

“That’s nothing to me,” Carlton Valentine said. “That’s between (Stephens) and Denzel. I’m a former player and I’m a coach, and I know what goes on between players and coaches in the heat of battle.”

Contact Joe Rexrode: 313-222-2625 or jrexrode@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @joerexrode. Check out his MSU blog at freep.com/heyjoe.